Councillor Briege Meehan has been suspended from Sinn Fein after being
questioned by the PSNI over allegations of abusing her stepdaughter, it
has emerged.

It is understood that Mrs Meehan -- widow of veteran north Belfast
republican Martin Meehan -- was stood down from the party more than a
year ago.

A member of the Meehan family said that they we re concerned at the
length of time it has taken for the PSNI investigation and the fact that
no charges have to date been brought against Briege Meehan.

A spokesman said: “The Meehan family would prefer if [Briege Meehan] no
longer used our dead father’s legacy for her own gain as she is
currently tarnishing his memory.”

The development came as Sinn Fein faced a continuing controversy over
its handling of child abuse claims involving party members.

A party spokesman said the allegations against Mrs Meehan, first
revealed in the Sunday Tribune newspaper, had not been made public due
to the nature of the inquiry and said: “The welfare of children is
paramount.”

The Newtownabbey Borough Council member, aged in her fifties, is being
investigated for alleged serious abuse of a stepdaughter who was in her
care in the late 1970s.

Briege Meehan became involved with Mr Meehan, a prominent IRA and Sinn
Fern figure, after his first wife Mary died in 1977. Mr Meehan, who was
62 when he died of a heart attack in 2007, was in prison at the time of
the alleged abuse.

At the weekend, the Sunday Tribune also carried allegations by the
grand-niece of IRA veteran Joe Cahill against an unnamed IRA man in west
Belfast.

Meanwhile, Gerry Adams has responded to the continuing controversy over
his handling of sex abuse allegations against his brother Liam. Last
week, Mr Adams said he he was unaware his brother, who currently faces
sex abuse charges, worked for his party in his west Belfast constituency
as late as 2005.

It was the latest in a series of embarrassing revelations of Liam
Adams’s activities within Sinn Fein by the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune.
He currently faces charges he sexually abused his daughter Aine Tyrell
in the 1970s and 80s.

Mr Adams said his political opponents were using the issue in an attempt
to undermine him. He said he also felt constrained from fully defending
himself by a need to protect the privacy of family members and by a
desire not to prejudice any future court proceedings against his
brother.

POLICING ABUSE

At the time of these alleged crimes, there was no support in republican
communities for the then RUC police. British forces working in Ireland
generally operated a policy of overlooking child abuse and other sex
crimes by republicans if those responsible agreed to work for the state
as informers and agents.

Up to the mid-nineties, abuse victims in republican areas were generally
advised to avoid the RUC, who tended to exploit the victims for their
own military purposes.

Since then, Sinn Fein’s position in relation to dealing with allegations
of child abuse is that the issue be brought immediately to the attention
of the statutory agencies with responsibility for dealing with it,
including the police.

The party has categorically denied it covered up sex abuse allegations
against Briege Meehan and the still unnamed IRA figure, and yesterday
launched a blistering attack on the Tribune newspaper.

“The Sunday Tribune is clearly involved in a smear campaign against
Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein officials have spoken in recent
days to both the journalist involved and the editor of the paper and
neither sought a response from Gerry Adams or the party in respect of
today’s stories. That says much about their motivation.

“Our position on these matters is crystal clear,” Sinn Fein said. “At
all times the welfare of children is paramount. The people who should
investigate allegations of abuse are the statutory authorities charged
with this task - the PSNI/Gardai and the Social Services.”

Mr Cahill’s grand niece, who did not want to be named, told the Sunday
Tribune the IRA investigated her claims but just moved her alleged
abuser to a location the 26 Counties.

Sinn Fein said the newspaper “while high of sensationalism and innuendo
does not produce facts to substantiate their claims.”

“The Sunday Tribunes decision to publish an edited version of Gerry
Adams and Sinn Fein’s response to the questions put to us by the Sunday
Tribune is equally telling. The matter is in the hands of our legal
representatives and we will be lodging a detailed and formal complaint
to the Press Complaints Commission,” a spokesman said.

“It is not the job of Sinn Fein to establish guilt or innocence and we
will await the outcome of the police investigation.”

* Gerry Adams’s response to the Sunday Tribune is published in full
below.